RIYADH — The Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia announced an upward revision to the Kingdom’s proven oil and gas reserves, following an independent certification of oil and gas reserves in Saudi Aramco’s concession area.

Leading consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) conducted the independent certification.

The Kingdom previously announced that oil and gas reserves were 264 billion barrels of oil and 307.2 trillion standard cubic feet of gas respectively as of Dec. 31, 2017.

Of these, the estimated proven oil and gas reserves in Saudi Aramco’s concession area were 261 billion barrels of oil and 302.3 trillion standard cubic feet of gas.

“This certification underscores why every barrel we produce is the most profitable in the world, and why we believe Saudi Aramco is the world’s most valuable company and indeed the world’s most important,” Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih said.

Following the certification, Saudi Aramco’s concession area oil reserves at year-end 2017 would have been 2.2 billion barrels higher or 263.2 billion barrels of oil and 319.5 trillion standard cubic feet of gas.

In addition to Saudi Aramco concession area reserves, the Kingdom also owns half of the oil reserves in the Partitioned Zone jointly owned by Saudi Arabia and the State of Kuwait.

The Kingdom’s share of the Partitioned Zone oil reserves (onshore and offshore combined) is 2.9 billion barrels and the corresponding gas reserves is 4.9 Tcf (Trillion cubic feet).

So, including the D&M revision of oil reserves in the Saudi Aramco’s concession area, the Kingdom’s total proven oil and gas reserves as of year-end 2017 would have been about 266.1 billion barrels of oil and 324.4 trillion standard cubic feet of gas.

Al-Falih, noted that this also highlighted three other important realities: That these vast reserves are also among the lowest cost in the world, backed by world-leading economies of scale.

That the carbon intensity of Saudi Arabia’s oil and corresponding gas flaring are among the very lowest in the world, and he called on the industry to use this metric alongside profitability.

And that it was a tribute to the importance the Kingdom places on integrity, the discipline and world-leading excellence of Saudi Aramco’s operations and employees.

“This independent third-party certification is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which promotes transparency, accuracy, and quality of all kinds of critical data. This reflects the continued direction and support provided to the Saudi petroleum industry by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense,” Al-Falih said. — SPA